No Longer Skye

[wini]

IS THIS TRUE???
I have just read in "The Scotsman"
that Skye will now be called eilean a' cheo because supposedly 40% of the island still speak Gaelic.
All my ancestors spoke both Gaelic and English as far back as I can reliably find, so why this urge to go back to a language that very few in the english speaking world will recognise?

wini

[AndrewP]

Hi Wini,

That was the first I had heard of that, but I have now seen the article that you refer to.

http://heritage.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=659562007

As ever, the comments that follow - some are pertinent, others not so.

It is debated whether that is an appropriate Gaelic name for the island. It seems to be more of a romantic or poetic name rather an any attempt to translate Skye back into Gaelic.

In the Outer Hebrides, similar was done a number of years back. The town and village names have reverted to Gaelic, as have the road signs.
Eilean Siar = Western Isles
Leodhais = Lewis
Steornabhagh = Stornoway
Na hEaraidh = Harris
Tarbeart = Tarbert
Uibhist a’ Tuath = North Uist
Loch na Madadh = Lochmaddy
Beinn Na Faoghla = Benbecula
Uibhist a' Deas = South Uist
Loch Baghasdail = Lochboisdale
Eiriosgaigh = Eriskay
Bharraigh = Barra
Bàgh a' Chaisteil = Castlebay
and many more...

As I recall from last time I was on Skye, the road signs there were bilingual.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2003/01/2947
(from 2003; in Gaelic, followed by English)

See also:
http://www.linguae-celticae.org/GLS_english.htm

All the best,

AndrewP

[Thrall]

Hi Andrew, I was surprised to find no reference in these articles to the "English" etymology of the name Skye. Similarly, a large proportion of the names on and of the Hebrides were "new" ones replacing presumably Gaelic originals around 1100 AD, but hardly correct to call English, or am I nitpicking?.

Thrall

[Ina]

When I was on the Isle of Islay a few years ago the street names were in both gaelic and english. The aisle signs in the supermarkets also in gaelic and english.

I chatted with a few teenagers on the ferry on the way off the island and they told me that they are now taught gaelic in school..........and they love it. Appears that they are trying to bring back the language. All four of my greatgrandparents spoke the gaelic language.

Ina

[AndrewP]

Hi Thrall,

The name change of An-T-Ob to Leverburgh has to be the biggest anglicisation of any place name in the Outer Hebrides that I am aware of. When South Harris Estate was bought by one of the Levers of Lever Brothers (later Unilever), the village was renamed, as he was brining prosperity to the area. Sadly the prosperity was not to last long, following his early death. More recently, the village has reverted to its origonal name of An-T-Ob.

As far as I can tell, most of the names used in English for the islands of the Hebrides are near-transliterations of the Gaelic. Sounding alike was presumably easier than translating the meaning.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Pandabean]

I was just in Skye last Summer for a Mapping Project. Stayed there for about 5 weeks and would love to go back. I loved it so much. You get used to the midges. I have also got the McDonalds from the Isle as well. Believe it or not one of them married a McInnes, and McInnes' were usually from the old villages of Suisnish apparently. That little village is where I spent most of my 5 weeks in. Its mostly ruins, with one building still roofed but burnt out and a sheep pen/wash at the far end.

Anyways most of the signs on the road and supermarkets, as Andrew said are bi-lingual. The people we were staying with, one of them was a teacher at the local school in Torrin and she taught Gaelic to them.

Its a shame that some of us who have never had the chance to learn the language will not get to learn it. At my school the three subjects for Standard Grades were German, Spanish and French. If they did Gaelic I am sure I would have taken it.

How do you say the Cheo? Is it Sheow? I thought the old name for Skye was the Misty Isle?

[DavidWW]

IS THIS TRUE???
I have just read in "The Scotsman"
that Skye will now be called eilean a' cheo because supposedly 40% of the island still speak Gaelic.
All my ancestors spoke both Gaelic and English as far back as I can reliably find, so why this urge to go back to a language that very few in the english speaking world will recognise?

That figure might not be too far off, - see http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/7_14.html , where a figure of 34% is quoted for the district of Skye and Lochalsh derived from the 2001 census.

Take mainland Lochalsh out of the equation and 40% might not be too far of the mark today for the Isle of Skye, especially given the recent resurgence of the Gaelic, especially in areas such as Skye in the last few years.

See also http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/7_14.html for some fascinating figures from the 1991 and 2001 censuses. Note carefully the different categories, i.e. total 58,650, not much over 1% of the population; with only 31,235 in 2001 fully fluent, i.e. able to speak, read and write the Gaelic.

I use to hold fairly strong views about the amount of money being spent on a "dying language" until genealogy took me into history, and especially the activities of the English and Lowland Scots ever since Culloden in 1746, - some would argue before, - to "extirpate", - I use the word wisely in terms of 18th century and 19th century attitudes, - the Scottish Gaelic culture.

Since then I've taken a rather different view, although I'd be happier if something, if only a significant fraction, of the funding devoted to the support of the Gaelic language and culture was also made available to The Doric and Lallans

The Irish Gaelic, Erse, was, until a few decades ago, on the same downward spiralling slope, but has recovered to the point where 260,000 currently speak Erse, approaching 6.5% of the population of the Irish Republic. 80,000 of those have Erse as their first language, i.e. in regular and primary daily use.

Over 1m of the population of a bit over 4m, - ca. 25%, - have some knowledge of Erse.

In no way am I arguing that all Scots should be able to speak the Gaelic, as, with one exception, it was never the language of Lowland Scotland, - the exception being Galloway, - there were native Scots Gaelic speakers there as late as the end of the 19th century.

But given the large areas of Scotland which have a very strong Gaelic history, islands and mainland areas, I can only encourage the continuing support for the whole Gaelic culture, especially while there are still substantial numbers of Gaelic speakers.

The last thing I'd want to see is a situation similar to that in the Isle of Man and Cornwall where there are no longer any speakers of the relevant gaelic languages other than those who have learnt to speak it from books since the last native speaker died!!

If a language dies, a whole culture can most often go with it !!

In the Scottish Gaelic culture any self-respecting individual could/(can) quote his antecedents back 4, 5 or 6 generations.

A seanachie, the member of a Scottish Gaelic community specialising in the history of the culture, the area, story telling, including the genealogy of the families in their area, was expected to be able to reel off antecedents back 12 or 14 generations.

Fortunately, some at least of those memories have been recorded, although academics in general dismiss them as the records are purely verbal, and not on paper

David

[Thrall]

Hi Thrall,
The name change of An-T-Ob to Leverburgh has to be the biggest anglicisation of any place name in the Outer Hebrides that I am aware of. When South Harris Estate was bought by one of the Levers of Lever Brothers (later Unilever), the village was renamed, as he was brining prosperity to the area. Sadly the prosperity was not to last long, following his early death. More recently, the village has reverted to its original name of An-T-Ob.

As far as I can tell, most of the names used in English for the islands of the Hebrides are near-transliterations of the Gaelic. Sounding alike was presumably easier than translating the meaning.

Hi Andrew, of course the big islands of the Long Island are as you say, transliterations from the Gaelic, but if one looks at a map, starting say in the south, then the result is less convincing:

Berneray, Mingulay,( Rosinish), Sandray, Vatersay, (Barra), Hellisay, Gighay, Eriskay, and the four most obvious islands to the west of the Uists and Benbecula, Stuley, Wiay, Ronay and Hermetray, and if one uses a chart it becomes even more obvious. I suppose my real point was that these names are all from the Norse and have little to do with English. Skye, our starting point, is derived from ský a cloud and ey, an island and seems a fairly reasonable description, at least looking at the Cuillins from most directions. Rona, at the north end of the Inner Sound is a name that could only portray the rock formations of this island, which resemble lava flows. (hraun, lava + a(y), an island.

As for Leverburgh, I couldn´t agree more that the name leaves more than a little to be desired, with the death of William Hesketh, Lord, Viscount Leverhulme leaving the project stranded with the harbour half completed.

I have no objection to bringing back original names when apropriate. We use in Iceland the original Icelandic/Norse names for many countries and towns round the world, with sometimes no chance of guessing at the international alternative; Rúðuborg (Rouen), Jorvík (York) and Kænugarður (Kiev) spring to mind.

Its all more colourful, so I must be in favour.

Orraverrabest,

Thrall

[AndrewP]

Hi Thrall,

Yes, we are probably dealing with English transliterations of Gaelic transliterations of Norse words.

Another example is Uig, generally pronounced yoo-ig by English speakers, and I think oo-ig by Gaelic speakers, which is from the Norse word vík (meaning bay if I have done my homework correctly). On the east cost of Scotland, the same Norse term did not go through the Gaelic transliteration, but directly to English transliteration and became Wick.

All the best,

AndrewP

[SarahND]

Another example is Uig, generally pronounced yoo-ig by English speakers, and I think oo-ig by Gaelic speakers, which is from the Norse word vík (meaning bay if I have done my homework correctly). On the east cost of Scotland, the same Norse term did not go through the Gaelic transliteration, but directly to English transliteration and became Wick.

Cool! Were I still teaching Historical Linguistics, this would make a great example for class!
Regards,
Sarah